Connector for electric conductors.



H. F. MAXIM.

CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS. APPLICATION FILED act. 28. m4.

1,209,604. Patent-ed Dec. 19,1916.

wi Masses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE nouns r. MAXIM, or nonronx,visors,

CONNIECTOR FOR- ELEGTHIC CONDUCTOR-S.

1,209,604, Specification of Letters Iatcnt. Patented Deg, 19, 1916,

Application filed October 28, 1914. Serial No. 868,047.

To all whom it may concern: of the wire. Preferably the part 8 is pro-Be it known that I, HOSEA F. MAXIM, a

citizen of'the United States, residing at Norfolk, in the county ofNorfolk and State of virfgl'una have invented certain new and use 1fmprovements in Connectors for Electric Conductors, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccompanying drawing.

The object of the invention is 'to provide a wire connector which can befastened in. place, as, for example, to a battery cell, and which willhave powerfully acting elastic wire gripping elements, which, however,can be opene by the application of pressure to the movable elementwithout any strain bein exertedat such'time upon the fastener.

e invention can be embodied in a num ber of difl'er'ent forms ofconnectors and in tli accompanying drawing several such forms have beenshown for purposes of illustration. It will be understood, however, thatthe invention is not limited to the forms shown and that others withinthe scope of the appended claims are to be considered as coming withinthe spirit of the invention.

'Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the top part ofa dry but tery cell having attached to it. two connectors embodying theinvention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a modified form ofconnectar-embodying the invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view ofanother modified form of connector embodying the invention. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of another modified form of connector embodying theinvention. Fi 5 is a perspective view; ofanother modifie form ofconnector embodying the ihvention; i

Referrin to the drawings, 1 represents as a wholea ry battery, the saidbattery having'the zincshell 2 and the central carbon terminal 3, Thesecan be of any form as they of'themselves constitute no part of mypresent invention. Attached to the zinc shell 2 anjltothe, carbon:terminal 3 are convided with means for holding it in approximateparallelism. with the part 7. In the preferred form, as shown, thismeans consists of the pivot 9 which is formed at the end of the part 8and extends into the 'coil 5. and abuts against the lower inner surfacethereof.

The wire extending from the other side of the coil. 5 is formed near itsend into a book 10 which is positioned so as to project into, or, atleast, lie in register with the space in the arm 6 bet ween the partsthereof, 7 and 8. Preferably, though not necessarily, there is alsoformed a second. hook 11 similar to and in parallelism with the hook 10and adapted to lie on the outside of one of the parts 7 or 8, as, forinstance, the part 7 as shown.

The wire is bent to provide a means for attachin the connector to thedevice which carries it and preferably this connecting means is formedbetween the coil 5 and the hook 10. As illustrated by the connectorattached to the zinc shell, the attaching means is in the form of a U12, the legs 13 and 14 of which extend downward from the coil 5 and fromthe hook 10, respectively. As illustrated, by the connector attached tothe carbon terminal of the battery, the U projects horizontally from thecoil and the hook instead of downward.

The arm 13 which extends upward from the fastener 12 to provide the hook10 is extended beyond the hook, and the free end part of the wire isbent, as shown, to provide an abutment 15 adapted either to be engagedby the thumb or finger of the hand or to bear" against a stationaryobject, as the top or side of a cell wall, at the time when pressure isbeing exerted downward or, inward on the arm 6. In either case thesolder, screw, or the like,.used for securing the fastener 12 in place,is relieved of strain or twisting when the arm 6 is pressed downward orinward to release or connect a conductor.

, In use the connector is attached as shown by means of the connecting'U 12 'to the zinc? nectors 4-which are similar. A detailed de- I shellor the'carbon terminal of the battery. I

'scription of one of themwill sufiiee.

The connector 4 is formed of a single in- When the conductor wire is tobe inserted, 1 5

tegral pieceof wire and it consists of the coil 50:- coils, as at-5, 5from one sideof which therenexten'dsi the conductor engaging arm 6. Thewire forming the arm 6 is doubled ack ulpton itself sons to provide thetwo bar or pa, s 7 and 8, which are spaced H apart a distanceabout equalto the diameter the arm, 6 is depressed so yes to cause the hook 10, andthe book 11 if provided, ,to project above it. Then the wire is insertedthrough the hooks above the arm and the arm is released. The springforce of the coil 5 throws the arm upward against the conductor and theconnector is thus pressed firmly against her 9 contacts with the hooks,electrical contact in this way bein established and maintained. Theposition 0 the attachin means 12 between the coil 5 and the heel? 10 ishighly advantageous as in this way it is positioned closely adjacent toboth of the points of stress, namely, the coil 5 when down pressureis'exerted on the arm, and the hoolr 10 when the arm is released and thewire gripped and afterward tensioned. The pivot 9, or eguivalent device,for supporting the part 8 o the arm is important as it holds the part 8in parallelism with the part I. It will be clear that if the part 8 wereleft unsupported at its end, the said unsupported end would be forceddownward relatively when contact was made with the conductor, thusmaking the grip updn the pivot 9, because of its engagement with thecoil, serves to prevent any downward movement of the part 8independently of the part 7.

It will be observed that the connector which I have provided not onlyhas the numerous functional advantages which I have referred to, butalso has the highly important advantage that it can be easily an cheaplymanufactured. It consists of a single piece of metal, namely, a wire,and this wire can be made into the connector by simple bendingoperations, no others being required. In Fig. 2 I have shown anotherform of connector which is very similar to that shown 1 in Fig. 1, theprincipal difference being that the supplemental hook 11 is omitted. Asstated, this supplemental hook is desirable under some circumstances butunder other circumstances it is not needed and can. be omitted, as shownin Fig. 2.

In Fig. 3 I have shown another connector also .imilar to the connectorshown in Fig. 1 and diflerin from the said connector principally in t atit has merely a single loo at 5 instead of a complete coil. The coil ispreferable as it gives increased resiliency,

ut, under some circumstances, it can be omitted and'tli'e connectormadein the form shown in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 4 I have shown still another connector which is also similar tothe connector shown in Fig; "In this case the connector difiersprincipally from the connector s own in Fig. 1 in t at the pivot orabutment menithe upper surface of the section! instead of with the coil.I prefer the construction shown in Fig. but the constrsction shown inFig. 4 can' e used, if

In Fig- 5 another connector is shown whicli'isdifirent in a number oirespects from that shown in Fig. 1. Instead of the arm "6 having twoparallel parts; there is rovided an arm .6 aving at its end a coil'yqith several loops 7 and 8". The hook 10 in apopi tioned to projectbetween two of these conductor relatively weak. The;

formed into a coi the wire at one side 0 arranged to hear u loops. Atthe end of the loo 8 there is provided a transverse element ada ted topass through the hook 10 andlimit t e u ward movement of the arm 6. Itwill soon that when the arm 6 is depressed, a conductor wire can beinserted through the, loops 7 and 8* of the coil and throu h the hook10. Then when the arm 6 is re eased, the conductor will be oau ht by theloops 7* and 8* and forced upwar a amsttho hook.

In Fig. 6 there is shown 5 ill another connector. This connector differsprinci ally from that shown in Fig. 2 by the prov sion of the attachingmeans 12 beyond the hook 10 instead of between the hop and the coil. Asstated before, I consider it highly advantageous to place the attachinmeans between the hook and the coil as t en it is better adapted tocarry the stresses, But under some circumstances it is possible tolocate the connecting means as shown in Fig. 6 and I consider suchadevice as coming within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is 1. A connector for electric conductors consisting of asin le integral piece of page e coil being doubled back upon itself toform a two part conductor engaging arm and being provided at the endwith a pivot extending into and abutting against the coil and the wireat the other side of the coil being bent. to form a conductor engaginghook positioned to project between the parts of the arm' when the latteris depressed against the spring action of the coil.

' 2. A conductor connector formed of a single wire bent upon itself toform one or more approximately closed coils, the wire from one side ofthe coils bein bent to form a vibratable arm 6 with two are 7 and 8 parallel and close together, the terminal bar 8 engaging with. the coil tomaintaimparallelism with "the bar 7 and the wire from the other side ofthe coils being extended outwardly approximately radiall to form afastener 12 having two paralle 1e 18', 14, the leg 13 beingpositioned'to exten between the bars 7 and 8 and turnedoutward to form ahook with an abutment at 15. 1

3. A conductor connector ftirmed bf a single V wire having a fastener 12'wlth'two or more parallel legs 1 14, the le 13 terminatin in o e ormore a proximate y closed coils m which the wire is carried outward toform a vibratable arm 6 with 'two bars 7 and '8 close together and theend of one of. the barsbeing' p83 the coils to aintain parallelism ofthe b and the leg 4 of the astene'r'being b t to provide both a wireholding loop 0, and an abutment it the end of the wire to take the trainwhen-pressure, is appliedto theii ibrating arm 6.

4. A conductoiconnector formed gt a single piece of-wire h ving both ofits-ands free,

6 with two closely adjacent parallel bars 7' and 8, the central part ofthe wire between the said vibrating arm and the said loop hook beingbent to form a fastener next to the hook and to form one or moreapproximately closed spring coils between the fastoner and the vibratingarm.

In testimony whereof, I afl'ut my signature, in presence of two witnHOSEA F. MAXIM. l/Vitnesses THOMAS PHAsEY, B. C. TATUM.

